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CUP: Earnhardt Jr. Expects Trouble Spots At Tricky Phoenix Track
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won November races at Phoenix in 2003 and 2004, but has only two top-10 finishes in his last seven Phoenix starts...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted November 10, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has struggled in recent trips to Phoenix. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows what his issues will be at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend. He knows where he’ll have problems – it’s about the same for every driver on the 1-mile track - as getting the car to handle through all four turns won’t be easy.

The track, which can best be described as a D-shaped oval with a kink in the backstretch (the backstretch is nearly 400 feet longer than the frontstretch), requires drivers to often compromise whether to be good in the tight turns 1 and 2 or the sweeping turns 3 and 4.

While Earnhardt Jr. won November races at Phoenix in 2003 and 2004, he has only two top-10 finishes in his last seven Phoenix starts.

“Turns 3 and 4 have been the toughest part for me lately at Phoenix,” Earnhardt Jr. said in a news release. “Both ends can be challenging but 3 and 4 is just a longer corner, and they are just so different from each other.

“The car will be good at one end of the track, and it changes all the time. Getting around 3 and 4, getting in there hard, through the center real fast is going to help your lap a lot more than what can happen in 1 and 2.”

Earnhardt Jr. will use the same car he drove to a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire in September.

In that race, Earnhardt Jr. started 32nd. He likely will have to start better at Phoenix in order to have a good finish there.

“As with any short track, you can’t make any mistakes at Phoenix or you will get yourself behind,” crew chief Lance McGrew said. “Qualifying is important, and you’ve got to have solid pit stops all night because getting through traffic is difficult.

“It’s hard to pass there. A good handling car is going to be the key to having a good race at Phoenix. There are only a couple of passing opportunities, so it’s very important to have your car handling as good as it possibly can be.”

With two races left in the season, Earnhardt Jr. is 19th in the standings, 140 points behind 18th-place David Reutimann but just 16 points ahead of 20th-place AJ Allmendinger and 17 points ahead of 21st-place Kasey Kahne.

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